Donna Longobardi Administrative Assistant

The Rev. Sandra L. Etemad received a bachelor's degree in English, summa cum laude, from Humboldt State University in 1992 and her M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary in 2006.

After starting but not completing college, she worked as a legal secretary /paralegal in business and industry while raising her sons.

"I started back to school when my younger son was 8 months old and graduated when he was 5," she said.

She says that her faith was always important to her but that taking the church's Education for Ministry (EFM) course available to lay persons led to her discerning a call to the ministry.

"I had been through some tough times," she recalls. "They were of my own making but I realized it was my faith that got me through and I wanted to give back."

She went through some career counseling and found that many of her talents would be helpful in a ministerial position. She felt a great deal of support from her pastor and church and began to pursue her new career.

While at the Virginia Theological Seminary, she did two years of internship at the Church of the Redeemer and was then hired as associate rector, serving in that capacity for four years.

She said living in Norristown has already made her a "confirmed zep lover" and, because she loves Mexican food, she appreciates living near the Mexican community on Marshall Street.